Manager has minor-league playoff memories

There are those baseball people who would tell you minor-league playoffs are no big deal.

Captains manager Luke Carlin is not one of those baseball people.

“Postseason in the minor leagues is a lot of fun. You play 140 games in the regular season to get to this moment,” Carlin said on Sept. 1 before the Captains and Great Lakes (Mich.) Loons squared off in the middle game of a three-game series.

Rain forced cancellation of the game. It will not be made up. Weather permitting, the series finale is scheduled for Sept. 2 at 1 p.m.

Carlin has the Captains in the 2019 Midwest League playoffs by way of a secondplace finish in the MWL Eastern Division in the first half. They’ll face the Loons in a best-of-three firstround series that begins on Sept. 4 at Classic Park.

“Everything is reset to zero in the playoffs. It’s a definite shift psychologically from the regular season,” Carlin said.

This will be Carlin’s second postseason experience as a minor-league manager. He guided the short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley Scrappers to the New YorkPenn League playoffs in his managerial debut in 2017.

The 38-year-old Carlin also got plenty of minorleague postseason exposure during a playing career that spanned 14 years in the organizations of the Tigers, Padres, Indians, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Angels, Cubs and A’s.

“I remember those teams getting to the playoffs most every year, it felt like,” Carlin said.

Asked for his fondest memories of postseason play in the minor leagues, Carlin took only a few seconds to settle on being with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers in 2010 and 2011 when the Indians affiliate claimed International League titles.

“There is a heightened awareness and sense of urgency for every game in the playoffs,” Carlin said.

The Captains’ 25-man roster is quite different from the first half. Only eight players in uniform for the washed-out game on Sept. 1 were there for the season-opener on April 4 against the Loons, also at Classic Park.

Lake County’s roster changed again on Sept. 1 with the promotion of catcher Bryan Lavistida from Mahoning Valley. He takes the place of backup catcher Josh Rolette, who left the series opener on Aug. 31 with what has been diagnosed as a high ankle sprain.

“From a staff perspective, it’s a challenge adding people now and integrating them into the culture and clubhouse,” Carlin said.

Great Lakes has 13 players on its current roster who were active or the season opener.

From his days as a player, Carlin said he couldn’t remember finishing the regular season against the same team that would be a firstround playoff opponent.

That’s the scenario this season for the Captains and Loons. Great Lakes has a 6-5 edger in the season series.

“The good thing is, neither of us has to travel to start the playoffs,” Carlin said.

Game 2 is scheduled for Sept. 5 at Dow Diamond in Bay City, Mich. Game 3, if necessary, will be there on Sept. 6.